Famed Japanese Print Artist Chimei Hamada Dies at 100

July 17, 2018

Tokyo- Chimei Hamada, a famed Japanese print artist whose works express the misery of war, died of old age at a hospital in the southwestern city of Kumamoto early Tuesday morning. He was 100.

A native of Kumamoto Prefecture, Hamada, whose real name was Tomoaki Hamada, was conscripted in 1939 after graduating from Tokyo Fine Arts School, now Tokyo University of the Arts.

His experience as foot soldier in China prompted him to produce, after the end of World War II, works, including a copper engravings series, "Shonenhei Aika," or elegy for a new conscript.

A piece in that series depicting a sentinel holding the muzzle of a gun to his throat was highly praised at a 1956 international print exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland.

Hamada also released works, such as a satirical piece, "Gunmo," or a group of the blind, and "Button (A)" and "Button (B)," both communicating the horrors of nuclear weapons.

He also worked as sculptor. In 1979, an exhibition displaying Hamada's works was held at an Austrian national museum. In 1989, he was given a cultural award by the French government. Jiji Press